Love, Joy and Peas: butterfly bush

Showing posts with label butterfly bush. Show all posts

Friday, August 26, 2016

Butterflies on Bright Summer Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Many flowers are blooming and it seems like we have more butterflies than we've had in the past couple years, so that is an added blessing.

The butterflies love many of our flowers but the butterfly bushes (aka buddelia) often have several butterflies per plant, especially in the morning.

The dahlias get their share of butterflies too.

And the giant red zinnias definitely attract butterflies.

There often are butterflies, bees and even golden finches on the giant zinnias. The tithonia have started blooming too but the flowers are up so high I have yet to get a sharable photo. Hopefully next week. The tithonia are special in that they also attract hummingbirds.

Thank you for visiting! That's all for this week's mini garden tour. May God bless you!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Monarch butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html
Bees on butterfly bushes: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/10/bees-and-butterflies-on-butterfly-bushes.html

Friday, July 29, 2016

Day Lilies, Strawberry, Dahlias and Butterfly Bush Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The double orange day lilies are still producing a few flowers, which I greatly appreciate.

I planted this pink flowering strawberry (Tristan) last year but didn't get any flowers or fruit so I'm thankful to have flowers from it this year. I hope one day it will grow a strawberry or two.

This pretty pink-purple dahlia has been producing flowers for months now.

As long as I remember to water them frequently enough the dahlias keep flowering.

The butterfly bushes are great survivors and butterflies and bees love them.

This special little bicolor day lily survived under some larger day lilies' foliage. I think of it as my miracle day lily as it doesn't get much sun.

It's hot and humid here in Maryland but the flowers are gorgeous. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Unusual dahlias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/four-dahlias-and-dianthus-for-floral.html
Powerhouse dahlias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Philadelphia Dahlia Show: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/philadelpha-dahlia-society-flower-show.html

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Bees and Butterflies on Butterfly Bushes

Happy wild Wednesday! Butterfly bushes really do attract butterflies (and bees too).

The butterflies and bees don't seem to be picky about the flower color.

Or whether the flowers are in sun or shade.

But they do seem to have a preference for the newer blooms.

Maybe the nectar is sweeter on the younger flowers? I don't know. But I love seeing the bushes filled with bees and butterflies. There was also a monarch butterfly on the bushes but it was too fast and skittish for me to capture with my camera.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you and our dwindling bee and butterfly populations!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Brookside butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/08/brookside-gardens-wings-of-fancy.html
Butterfly blessings: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-new-year-blessings-butterflies.html

Friday, August 28, 2015

Dahlia, Marigolds, Zinnia, Butterfly Bush and Friend

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" It's been really hot but the flowers are still going strong, and I'm thankful.

I love these bicolor French marigolds that I grew from seed. They are getting so large I might have to stake some of them.

I've already had to stake a bunch of the giant zinnias (also grown from seed) and some of the plants are so tall they reach my shoulders. In the photo above you can see a giant bright pink zinnia just opening up and, in the background, a light pink that is fully open. I often see golden finches, butterflies, moths and bees enjoying the giant zinnias.

This is another potted butterfly bush (I featured a white one last week). I love the bright orange centers and the lilac colored petals. We do plan to put them in the ground once things start cooling down so they have time to establish deeper roots before winter.

Some of the African marigolds (also grown from seed) have grown nearly as tall as the giant zinnias. It's really exciting to see so many pretty flowers on plants I grew from seed. I love all flowers but the ones grown from seed are extra special.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden tour! May God bless you!

Which photo(s) did you like best from today's post? Someone mentioned that she'd like to see the results posted and I thought it was a great idea. So I'm going to start listing the vote totals in the comments of the floral Friday posts and will count votes shared here, in Facebook and other forums. I'll aim to give the vote totals for the previous week on the same day I do the new week's post (for example, today I'll post the vote totals for last week's post in that post's comment section) so that gives you about a week to vote. I'd love to hear from you anytime though! Feel free to share!

Related posts:
Raindrops on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/raindrops-on-roses-azalea-camellia.html
Marigolds and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/shasta-daisies-coreopsis-sweet-peas.html
Mystery flowers and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunflower-day-lilies-vinca-and-mystery.html

Friday, August 21, 2015

Lantana, Zinnia, Dahlias, and Butterfly Bush Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The lantanas are great drought-tolerant butterfly-attracting plants. I like this white with yellow center one but the bright multicolored and straight yellow flowers are nice too.

I think the zinnias are the stars of our garden this year and love that I grew most of them (including the one pictured above) from seed. The birds and butterflies love them too.

Dahlia blooms are still trickling in here and there.

The butterfly bushes are doing great; even the ones in pots. We didn't intend to grow any in pots but the soil where we planned to put them this spring turned out to be riddled with tree roots so four bushes are in pots until my hard working husband can get to clear out spots for them.

The "sights of summer" dahlia is currently the most prolific of the larger dahlias. It's nice to have a few big blooms. Next year I think we'll go back to the dinnerplate dahlias though. We seemed to get a whole lot more flowers from them. But we appreciate all flowers as they bloom.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden tour! May God bless you!

Which photo(s) did you like best? Do you have any tips for keeping dahlias happy all summer? I'd love to hear them!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Raindrops on butterfly bush and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/raindrops-on-roses-azalea-camellia.html
Colorful lantana: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/zinnia-vinca-coreopsis-geranium-and.html

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Cute Critters on Flowers

Happy wild Wednesday! Here are the critter on flower photos I promised last Friday. We've planted several specialty echinacea (also known as coneflower) varieties but this yellow is the only one besides the old fashioned purple that survived our last few frigid winters. I was really happy to see the cheery yellow flowers and the bees were too.

Of course, the old fashioned echinacea are still a big draw. Bees and butterflies usually flock to them. This year we've had a few moths but so far, only one butterfly that I've noticed. I did plant some milkweed for the monarchs a couple years ago but it didn't survive the winter. If we stay here through another spring then next year I hope to plant some more milkweed and some butterfly weed to help these beautiful creatures survive.

My husband pointed out this pretty green dragonfly resting on the green daylily leaves. He has a good eye for noticing seemingly hidden creatures.

This bug (a beetle of some kind?) surprised me. I was taking a photo of the dark purple butterfly bush flower and it popped right over from the back side.

Here's a macro (super close up) shot of that same green dragonfly from above. It's amazing the creatures you can find in your own back yard.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Monarch butterfly: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Dragonfly and butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Butterfly preserve critters: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wildlife-at-glendening-preserves.html

Friday, October 12, 2012

Raindrops on Roses, Azalea, Camellia, Butterfly Bush and a mystery flower

Raindrops on a wild rose: Photo by Phyllis Wheeler

Happy floral Friday, dear reader! Earlier this week my husband and I enjoyed a rainy walk in the U.S. National Arboretum's Asian Garden. There's something especially beautiful about flowers with raindrops on them.

Raindrops on red azalea blooms: Photo by Phyllis Wheeler

It's always a pleasant surprise to see azaleas blooming in the fall. On a break between rainshowers there were even some bees enjoying the flowers.

Mystery plant with spiky flower: Photo by Phyllis Wheeler

I have no idea what kind of plant/flower is pictured above (if you do, please share!) but it was neat looking.

Raindrops on a white camellia bloom: Photo by Phyllis Wheeler

This camellia almost looks like a peony so it brings thoughts of spring to mind, even on a chilly autumn day.

Vibrant butterfly bush bloom: Photo by Ben Wheeler

My husband took this beautiful and unusually colored butterfly bush flower cluster photo. We didn't see any butterflies but usually these bushes attract plenty of them.

That's all for today's floral photo tour. Hope you enjoyed it. Which was your favorite photo? I wish you a happy weekend and pray that God will bless you!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Pink, Purple and Blue Flowers: This Week in My Maryland Garden

This is the first week our spirea (at least that's what I think it is) has bloomed this year in our Maryland garden. All of the blooms are pink but usually it has white flowers too so hopefully we'll see those later this season.

This is one of our new additions and our first Veronica plant. It looks more blue in person.

This is the same echinacea (coneflower) flower I photographed last week but it looks a lot more pink now, which is great. You might have noticed that I cut off the bottom of the bottom petals in both photos. That's because something nibbled on them and I thought the un-nibbled parts looked nicer.

Here's our first buddelia (butterfly bush) bloom of 2012. I planted a few seeds from this bush a week or two ago and they've already sprouted so I'm hoping we'll have 3-5 more of these butterfly attracting plants blooming before fall.

Hope you enjoyed this week's flower photos. May God bless you!

What's blooming in your area this week?